1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to systems and methods of providing calendar services.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Electronic calendars for mobile terminals are currently in use. These electronic calendars permit updating and viewing of scheduled events by users of the mobile terminals. Additionally, alerts and notifications may be provided to the users. Information from external databases may be used by the personal calendar in the scheduling of events. Navigation systems for vehicles provide travelers access to information involving a route of travel, but do not schedule services for the traveler dependent on the route of travel. Furthermore, electronic calendars deployed in mobile terminals may be synchronized with organizational calendars so as to coordinate the user""s personal mobility with an organization for which the user works or otherwise for which the user provides or receives scheduled services.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,732,399, 5,790,974, 5,842,009 and 5,855,066 disclose examples of personal calendars.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,732,399 associates the scheduling of events with electronic documents. A display specifies scheduled events but the system""s operation is not responsive to the user""s location.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,790,974 describes a mobile personal calendar connected with an office calendar system which coordinates the mobile user""s calendar and the user""s organization. The ""974 Patent identifies conflict situations when the user of the mobile personal calendar is travelling and the current location of the user presents a conflict to the user reaching a scheduled appointment. The personal mobile calendar determines from traffic and other information and the user""s current position if a rescheduling change can be accommodated. When there is no conflict, the rescheduled item is added to the calendar display. However, while the ""974 Patent describes the identification of travel conflicts which are detected as a consequence of the user""s current position, there is no rescheduling by the calendar of services with a service provider dependent upon a stored location.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,842,009 describes a portable calendar providing a user with documents and information relevant to a scheduled event. Queries are automatically formulated to elicit information about the stored scheduled event. The operation of the calendar is not dependent on the location stored within the calendar associated with events scheduled in the calendar.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,855,006 discloses a personal calendar providing the user with information related to a scheduled activity and the capability of making reservations and purchasing tickets. The operation of the calendar is not dependent on the location stored within the calendar associated with events scheduled in the calendar.
The present invention is a method and system for providing calendar services to a user of a mobile terminal which affords the user of the mobile terminal worldwide access to scheduled services from service providers and/or information services provided from information service providers. The calendar services are dependent upon location information stored in a calendaring and scheduling server from which the mobile terminal receives the calendaring information displayed by the user""s mobile terminal to inform the user of calendar events. The calendar services are provided by a calendar resident in at least one calendaring and scheduling server which communicates with a user of the mobile terminal by a communication system. The services may be scheduled user services having particular properties of time and location which are provided to the user by at least one service provider or which are provided as on-time information services provided by an information service provider. The calendar services include scheduling and rescheduling services provided by a user service provider to the user of the mobile terminal and the providing of alerts to perform unscheduled events.
Scheduled services are rescheduled when a conflict in the user""s schedule between different services as to time and/or location, which is dependent on a position stored in the calendar, is detected. With the invention, a location stored in the calendar controls services provided to the user of the mobile terminal and/or the generation of alerts that events not scheduled as to time should be performed as a result of the user of the mobile terminals actual position or scheduled position. A location signal indicating the current location of the mobile terminal may be used in the aforementioned providing of scheduled services or alerts to generate the stored location and may be generated by a GPS receiver located in the mobile terminal or, alternatively, provided by a communication system to which the mobile terminal is connected. At least one calendaring and scheduling server provides the mobile terminal with an identification of the scheduled services and other events which are displayed by the calendar. The software executed by the at least one calendaring and scheduling server, which may be responsive to either the actual location of the mobile terminal or a location associated with calendar events, signals when a conflict exists as a result of the mobile terminal""s current location or a location involving a scheduled calendar service that prevents the user of the mobile terminal from obtaining the scheduled calendar service. The software executed by the at least one calendaring and scheduling server controls communications with at least one user service provider server to schedule a calendar service or reschedule a scheduled calendar service so that a scheduling conflict does not exist. Additionally, at least one information service provider server is in communication with the mobile terminal which provides the mobile terminal with on line or other information sources which relate to the stored location and provide the user of the mobile terminal with useful information when the user is located physically at the stored location such as, but not limited to, the user travelling to the location stored in the at least one calendaring and scheduling server.
The at least one calendaring and scheduling server or a separate profile server which interacts with the at least one calendaring and scheduling server stores a personal profile or set of profiles of the user of the mobile terminal which are used by the software of the at least one calendaring and scheduling server to schedule services from information and user service providers. The profile(s) of the user specify the personal service providers which provide the user with scheduled calendar services and the information service providers the user likes to use as sources of on line information. The selected information service providers and user service providers may be service providers the user prefers, has used in the past, or which have been selected by some other party as being suitable such as, for example, any employer. The users are given unique user accounts which permit a single mobile terminal to be used by multiple users. Service specific profiles containing additional information useful for defining the individual profile(s) of each user may be stored by service providers providing scheduled services. The user profile is initially created by the user or a party having a contractual relationship to the proprietor of the at least one calendaring and scheduling server. If the user is an employer who provides the mobile terminal(s) to employees, arrangements may be made with preferred service providers including rates for services and delivery features to be obtained. The profile(s) may also be updated based upon user history and the context of the user""s history. The profile may desirably have a home location which may be the user""s home or office location etc.
The calendar stored by the at least one calendaring and scheduling server which is transmitted to the mobile terminal for display contains a number events which each have a number of properties such as location and time. Location is a significant control parameter in the at least one calendaring and scheduling server providing of calendar services. The mobile terminal itself has a physical location which may be detected by a communication system in which the mobile terminal functions or by a GPS function built into the mobile terminal.
The operation of the invention in essence connects together information services and service providers which provide scheduled calendar services with at least one calendaring and scheduling server and a mobile terminal which provides the user of the mobile terminal an aggregate of calendar services which are related to a current or scheduled location of the user. The at least one calendaring and scheduling server maintains the calendar and updates the calendar as the location of events in the calendar changes, such as scheduled user services and the receipt of information services at a specified time, which are provided to the user by at least one service provider or information service provider.
The mobile terminal includes a memory storing an application program which provides the display of calendar information, such as generic short message service, but in a preferred embodiment, is a calendar software client application program which provides the mobile terminal with the functionality of a calendar type device including processing of calendar information received from the at least one calendaring and scheduling server. The calendar software client application program also controls the transmission of user inputted information to the at least one calendaring and scheduling server.
A system providing calendar services in accordance with the invention includes a mobile terminal including a display, a processor which controls providing a display on the display of a calendar of a user of the mobile terminal including scheduled calendar user services which are provided to the user of the mobile terminal by at least one user service provider and have associated therewith a scheduled time and at least one location for which the user service is provided to the user; at least one calendaring and scheduling server providing the mobile terminal with a schedule of the scheduled calendar user services which is maintained by the at least one calendaring and scheduling server and which is displayed by the display under control of the processor, each calendaring and scheduling server executing software, which is responsive to a location stored therein to schedule at least one scheduled calendar user service for the user of the mobile terminal; and a communication system providing communications between the mobile terminal and the at least one calendaring and scheduling server and between the at least one calendaring and scheduling server and the at least one service provider. The stored location may be a physical location of the mobile terminal or a stored physical location for which the calendaring and scheduling server has scheduled a scheduled calendar user service to be provided to the user. The software of one of the at least one calendaring and scheduling server may determine that a scheduling conflict exists which prevents the user of the mobile terminal from receiving a scheduled calendar user service at a specified time and physical location and may control communications by the communication system with the at least one service provider or another entity in communication with the at least one service provider to change the scheduled calendar user service to avoid the conflict. At least one information provider server may be provided in communication with the at least one calendaring and scheduling server which provides calendar information service by providing information which is stored by the at least one information provider server to the user by transmission with the communication system to the mobile terminal under control of one of the at least one calendaring and scheduling server. The calendar information service provided by the at least one information provider server may be selected as a function of a location stored in at least one calendaring and scheduling server associated with a scheduled calendar user service. The information provided by the at least one information provider server may be transmitted to the user of the mobile terminal after the user has moved to a new physical location stored in the at least one calendaring and scheduling server and is information selected to be useful to the user at the new physical location. The at least one calendaring and scheduling server may store information displayed by the display under control of the processor and a profile of the user providing information about preferences of the user regarding the scheduled calendar services; and the software of the at least one calendaring and scheduling server may access and use the profile of the user in providing at least the scheduled calendar user services to the user of the mobile terminal. The profile of the user may contain at least one preferred user service provider which may be chosen to provide service to the user and the at least one preferred user service provider may be given preference by the software in scheduling the scheduled calendar user services over any other user service provider which may be chosen to provide the user the scheduled calendar user services. The user profile may store additional information for selecting between a plurality of user service providers to provide more than one scheduled calendar user service to the user. The software of the at least one calendar and scheduling server further may be responsive to the physical location stored therein to generate an alert which is transmitted to the mobile terminal which informs the user that the user should perform an unscheduled activity while the user is in a physical proximity to the stored physical location. The unscheduled activity may be an activity which may be performed by the user independent of time. The software of the calendar and scheduling server further may schedule at least one item in the calendar for the user is associated with the new physical location. The software of the calendar and scheduling server further may schedule at least one item in the calendar for the user is associated with the new physical location. The at least one item may be a scheduled user service to be provided to the user while the user is at the new physical location. The at least one item may be delivery of information to the user from at least one information provider server while the user is at the new physical location. The information may be subject matter useful to the user while the user is in the new location.
A system providing calendar services in accordance with the invention includes a mobile terminal including a display, a processor which controls providing a display on the display of a calendar of a user of the mobile terminal including scheduled calendar services which are provided to the user of the mobile terminal; and at least one calendaring and scheduling server providing the mobile terminal with a calendar of events which are displayed by the display under the control of the calendar software, each calendaring and scheduling server executing software which is responsive to a physical location stored therein where the user is scheduled by the software of the at least one calendaring and scheduling server to be present to generate an alert which is transmitted to the mobile terminal which informs the user that the user should perform an activity independent of time while the user is in physical proximity to the stored physical location. The stored physical location may be the physical location of the mobile terminal. The stored physical location may be a physical location at which the calendaring and scheduling server has scheduled a calendar user service to be provided to the user.
A method of providing calendar services in a system including a mobile terminal including a display, a processor which controls providing a display on the display of a calendar of a user of the mobile terminal including scheduled calendar user services which are provided to the user of the mobile terminal by at least one user service provider and have associated therewith a scheduled time and at least one location for which the user service is provided to the user, at least one calendaring and scheduling server providing the mobile terminal with a schedule of the scheduled calendar user services which is maintained by the at least one calendar scheduling server and which is displayed by the display under control of the processor and a communication system providing communications between the mobile terminal and the at least one calendaring and scheduling server and between the at least one calendaring scheduling server and the at least one service provider in accordance with the invention includes storing a location in one of the at least one calendaring and scheduling server; in response to the stored location, the software of the one calendaring and scheduling server schedules at least one scheduled calendar user service for the user; transmitting the at least one scheduled calendar user service for the user to the mobile terminal; and displaying the at least one scheduled calendar user service on the display. The stored location may be a physical location of the mobile terminal or a physical location for which the calendaring and scheduling server has scheduled a scheduled calendar service to be provided to the user. The software of one of the at least one calendaring and scheduling server may determine that a scheduling conflict exists which prevents the user of the mobile terminal from receiving a scheduled calendar user service at a specified time and physical location and may control communications by the communication system with the at least one service provider or another entity in communication with the at least one service provider to change the scheduled calendar user service to avoid the conflict. At least one information provider server is provided, in communication with the at least one calendaring and scheduling server which provides calendar information service by providing information which is stored by the at least one information provider server to the user by transmission with the communication system to the mobile terminal under control of one of the at least one calendaring and scheduling server. The calendar information service provided by the at least one information provider server may be selected as a function of a location stored in at least one calendaring and scheduling server associated with a scheduled calendar user service. The information provided by the at least one information provider server may be transmitted to the user of the mobile terminal after the user has moved to a new physical location stored in the at least one calendaring and scheduling server and is information selected to be useful to the user at the new physical location. The at least one calendaring and scheduling server may store information displayed by the display under control of the processor and may store a profile of the user providing information about preferences of the user regarding the scheduled calendar services; and the software of the at least one calendaring and scheduling server may access and use the profile of the user in providing at least the scheduled calendar user services to the user of the mobile terminal. The profile of the user may contain at least one preferred user service provider which may be chosen to provide service to the user and the at least one preferred user service provider may be given preference by the software in scheduling the scheduled calendar user services over any other user service provider which may be chosen to provide the user the scheduled calendar user services. The user profile may store additional information for selecting between a plurality of user service providers to provide more than one scheduled calendar user service to the user. The software of the at least one calendar and scheduling server further may be responsive to the physical location stored therein to generate an alert which is transmitted to the mobile terminal which informs the user that the user should perform an unscheduled activity while the user is in a physical proximity to the physical location. The unscheduled activity may be an activity which may be performed by the user independent of time. The software of the calendar and scheduling server further may schedule at least one item in the calendar for the user is associated with the new physical location. The at least one item may be a scheduled user service to be provided to the user while the user is at the new physical location. The at least one item may be a delivery of information to the user from at least one information provider server while the user is at the new physical location.
A system providing calendar services in accordance with the invention includes a mobile terminal including a display, a processor which controls providing a display on the display of a calendar of a user of the mobile terminal including scheduled calendar user services which are provided to the user of the mobile terminal by at least one user service provider and have associated therewith a scheduled time and at least one location at which the user service is provided to the user; at least one calendaring and scheduling server providing the mobile terminal with a schedule of the scheduled calendar user services which is maintained by the at least one calendaring and scheduling server and which is displayed by the display under control of the processor, at least one calendaring and scheduling server executing software, which is responsive to a location stored therein, to schedule at least one calendar user service for the user of the mobile terminal and in response to confirmation that the calendar user service has been completed, scheduling at least one additional item related to completion of the calendar user service; and a communication system providing communications between the mobile terminal and the at least one calendaring and scheduling server and between the at least one calendaring and scheduling server and the at least one service provider. The at least one additional item may be independent of a location of the mobile terminal at a time the calendar user service was completed.
A method of providing calendar services in a system including a mobile terminal including a display, a processor which controls providing a display on the display of a calendar of a user of the mobile terminal including scheduled calendar user services which are provided to the user of the mobile terminal by at least one service provider and have associated therewith a scheduled time and at least one location at which the service is provided to the user, at least one calendaring and scheduling server providing the mobile terminal with a schedule of the scheduled calendar services which is maintained by the at least one calendar scheduling server and which is displayed by the display under control of the processor and a communication system providing communications between the mobile terminal and the at least one calendaring and scheduling server and between the at least one calendaring scheduling server and the at least one service provider in accordance with the invention includes storing a location in at least one of the at least one calendaring and scheduling server; in response to the stored location, the software of the at least one calendaring and schedules server scheduling at least one calendar service for the user and in response to confirmation that the calendar service has been completed, scheduling at least one additional item related to completion of a calendar service; transmitting the at least one scheduled calendar service to the mobile terminal; and displaying the at least one scheduled calendar service on the display. The at least one additional item may be independent of a location of the mobile terminal at a time the calendar service has been completed.